Big is better for Queensland as Ballymore is written off as venue

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The Queensland Lions, who will unveil their new name and colours
later today, are staying at Suncorp Stadium despite suggestions
from the A-League's governing body that a late switch to Ballymore
has not been ruled out.

Football Federation Australia chief executive John O'Neill told
reporters this week that the governing body was mindful of
criticism that some A-League clubs - notably Queensland, Sydney FC
and Melbourne Victory - were going to use over-sized stadiums for
the inaugural season, which kicks off in August.

Melbourne have yet to decide between Telstra Dome (capacity
56,000) and Olympic Park (capacity 20,000), but the Lions - who
have traditionally struggled to draw more than a few thousand fans
to their games - have committed to Suncorp Stadium (capacity
55,000) despite it being twice the size of Ballymore.

"The point on boutique stadiums isn't lost on us," O'Neill said.
"The experience of the MLS [US pro league] is also not lost on us.
We saw that they over-promised and underachieved, and they're now
in the process of scaling back from 80,000 to 20,000 stadiums. In
Brisbane, there was a good constructive debate with the Lions about
whether they should play at Ballymore, and that's still not out of
the question. Suncorp is their preference, but Ballymore's
there."

Queensland chief executive Lawrence Oudendyk, however, said last
night his club had committed to Suncorp for the next five years and
had no interest in changing the agreement.

"From a legal point of view, there's no going back, nor would we
want to," Oudendyk said. "Suncorp's corporate facilities are a
hundred times better than Ballymore, it suits where we want to be
geographically, and public transport is much better, which is a big
issue for us.

"There are a host of reasons why we chose Suncorp over
Ballymore. We wish it was a 25,000-seater, but it's not. At the end
of five years we will re-assess where we're at, and if it's all
going well we'll stay put. If it's not, we'll look at other
options, but the fact is that, at the moment, Brisbane doesn't have
a lot of alternatives."

The Lions edged out former NSL club Brisbane Strikers for
Queensland's A-League berth, and in their bid the Strikers had
listed Ballymore as their home ground. The Strikers are now playing
in the local state league, but club owner Clem Jones - a former
Brisbane Lord Mayor - has already started planning for a major
redevelopment of Perry Park, the traditional headquarters of
Queensland football.

"If Clem goes ahead and builds a 15,000-20,000-seater stadium at
Perry Park, then we'd be very interested in what he has to offer,"
Oudendyk said. "But at this point, only Suncorp and Ballymore meet
the A-League criteria."

The Lions are close to agreeing terms with 34-year-old former
South Korean international Shin Tae-young, while A-League rivals
Central Coast Mariners have made a bid for exciting Sydney Olympic
youngster Tarek Elrich.

In other news, former New Zealand international Ricki Herbert is
likely to take charge of the All Whites in a Confederations Cup
warm-up game against Australia in London on June 8 - if it is given
the green light.

The FFA will decide within a week whether the Socceroos will
play the Kiwis or Croatia at Craven Cottage. The Croats would be
more attractive opponents, but New Zealand are more economical. The
cup begins in Germany on June 15.